UK, Australia, Canada launch $4m peace fund for Israel-Palestine conflict
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- United Kingdom, Australia and Canada each pledged £1 million ($1.34 million) to a joint peace fund, creating a £3 million ($4.02 million) pool for Israeli‑Palestinian peacebuilding.
- The fund will target grassroots projects involving youth, civil‑society groups and women, provide humanitarian aid to Palestinians, curb violent Israeli settler activity, and back President Trump’s 20‑point Gaza peace plan.
- British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper announced the initiative ahead of a meeting with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand in London.
- The fund is designed to scale up and attract additional donors after it becomes operational, focusing on long‑term peacebuilding to address the root causes of the conflict.
- France, New Zealand and Norway announced coordinated sanctions on networks financing and executing Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank.
- The United Nations reports that more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since Oct 7 2023, and a UN inquiry found Israeli authorities directly involved in settler attacks and protecting settlers.
Why it matters: The £3 million fund injects fresh resources into Palestinian humanitarian aid and grassroots peacebuilding, while explicitly targeting violent settler activity and endorsing President Trump’s 20‑point Gaza peace plan. By mobilising UK, Australian and Canadian support and inviting further donors, it bolsters a multilateral push for a two‑state solution and shifts leverage toward civil‑society actors.
